President Trump Weighs In On Ivanka's Brand Being Dropped By Nordstrom

Ana ColonFeb 8, 2017 12:45 PM

Photo: Mark Wilson/Getty Images.

Last week, various outlets began reporting on how Ivanka Trump's namesake label had suddenly disappeared (or was discounted) from its stockists' websites. While the First Daughter officially resigned from Trump Organization and cut ties with her own company earlier this year, it's hard to separate Ivanka Trump Collection from politics — and the label has remained on the #GrabYourWallet boycott list, as have all the retailers that stocked the line. So, the fact that the line was apparently being quietly phased out by department stores like Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus caught the attention of many. A representative for Nordstrom told Refinery29 on February 3 that the decision to not buy into more Ivanka Trump collections was not at all political; rather, it was a matter of how the brand was selling. Still, the retailer couldn't immediately shake the political implications — especially now that President Donald Trump has chimed in on the matter.

Today, President Trump took to Twitter (of course) to share his thoughts about how Nordstrom was reportedly doing business with his daughter and her business. "My daughter Ivanka has been treated so unfairly by @Nordstrom," he wrote. "She is a great person — always pushing me to do the right thing! Terrible!" He also posted the tweet on his Facebook and Instagram accounts.

Now, there are many ways to approach this tweet. First off, it can be interpreted as an example of the President becoming involved with an issue pertaining to a family member's personal business dealings, which he promised he wouldn't do (plus, his daughter is supposed to be separated from said business dealings), as New Yorkpointed out. Then, there's the question of whether it's even okay for President Trump to call out a company on a public platform for alleged mistreatment of his child's company — and to technically do so on his official POTUS account, since he retweeted the original message onto there.

In a statement provided to Refinery29, a spokesperson for Nordstrom reiterated that its decision to drop the Ivanka Trump label was based on performance. "Over the past year, and particularly in the last half of 2016, sales of the brand have steadily declined to the point where it didn’t make good business sense for us to continue with the line for now," the company explained. "We've had a great relationship with the Ivanka Trump team. We’ve had open conversations with them over the past year to share what we've seen and Ivanka was personally informed of our decision in early January." This story has been updated with a statement from Nordstrom.